The text of this legend is cut in hieroglyphics upon a sandstone stele,
with a rounded top, which was found in the temple of Khensu at Thebes,
and is now preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris; it was
discovered by Champollion, and removed to Paris by Prisse d'Avennes in
1846. The text was first published by Prisse d'Avennes,[FN#32] and it
was first translated by Birch[FN#33] in 1853. The text was republished
and translated into French by E. de Rouge in 1858,[FN#34] and several
other renderings have been given in German and in English since that
date.[FN#35] When the text was first published, and for some years
afterwards, it was generally thought that the legend referred to events
which were said to have taken place under a king who was identified as
Rameses XIII., but this misconception was corrected by Erman, who
showed[FN#36] that the king was in reality Rameses II. By a careful
examination of the construction of the text he proved that the
narrative on the stele was drawn up several hundreds of years after the
events described in it took place, and that its author was but
imperfectly acquainted with the form of the Egyptian language in use in
the reign of Rameses II. In fact, the legend was written in the
interests of the priests of the temple of Khensu, who wished to magnify
their god and his power to cast out devils and to exorcise evil
spirits; it was probably composed between B.C. 650 and B.C. 250.[FN#37]



[FN#32] Choix de Monuments Egyptiens, Paris, 1847, plate xxiv.

[FN#33] Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature, New Series,
vol. iv., p. 217 ff.